Excellent work, US Airways Flight 1549 Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, 3rd. You and your crew performed as the consummate professionals you have trained to be and show on a daily basis.
The U.S. aviation industry begins 2009 walking a tightrope over an economic abyss. While capacity cuts are keeping airlines on course for a return to profitability, there are enough danger signs to remind them how swiftly their outlook could deteriorate.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded a $276-million contract to Northrop Grumman for sustainment of its Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle. The contract will provide operations and maintenance support for Fiscal 2009-10 for eight Global Hawks already delivered and the first Block 20 aircraft, which has larger wings and payload capacity. It will also cover operational assistance for new Global Hawk bases in Guam and Italy.
The price of European Union emission allowances (EUAs) under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme fell sharply in January, as the market continued to price in expectations of lower emissions across the EU amid the global economic slowdown. Companies covered by the scheme must submit enough EUAs to the European Commission each year to cover their verified annual emissions. As a result of lower industrial output, demand for EUAs has dropped off sharply.
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Amy Butler (Washington)
Combat aviation is likely to fare well in the Fiscal 2010 budget, but the first major changes directed by President Barack Obama will come in next year’s Fiscal 2011 spending plan. This will allow for the Pentagon to complete an accelerated Quadrennial Defense Review—now anticipated to be ready in August—which will reflect Obama’s vision for U.S. defense. In the meantime, some redirection is expected for the new aerial refueler and bomber programs.
Dassault has revised its plans for the its next Falcon business jet. The super-midsize SMS twin, which was never formally unveiled, is growing, as is the engine thrust level. The development timeline also is being stretched.
The failure of DHL’s North American strategy has deeper causes than its use of small, odd-size cargo containers or a $213-million sorting facility that stands nearly empty. The real problem it faced was a declining market for express packages and its inability to grow in competition with rivals FedEx and UPS. DHL ended domestic air express service on Jan. 30, after a five-year run. It continues to provide international package services in a newly fashioned hub network and offers DHL Global Forwarding, which packages cargo and ships on commercial carriers.
NASA believes flying-wing designs could deliver dramatic fuel savings and noise reductions in airliners entering service as early as 2020, but significant investment in large-scale demonstrations will be needed to realize that promise.
There have now been three instances of inertial reference system unit faults on Boeing 777s and Airbus A330s flying near Perth, Australia. Three times for what is forecast to be a rare occurrence, and each one in the same region, begs the question of a possible ground-based cause. An Australian Transport Safety Board preliminary report issued in November about the first A330-300 incident suggested the possibility that transmissions from a nearby naval communications station interfered with onboard systems.
Cessna has cut another 2,000 jobs as it reduces planned deliveries of Citation business jets to about 375 this year, noting order cancellations and “unprecedented deferrals” in the fourth quarter of 2008. The company shipped a record 467 Citations last year and originally planned to deliver 525 in 2009. Cessna has now cut more than 4,600 jobs since December, from a total workforce of 15,000.
Nevada-based Minden Air Corp. has taken delivery of a BAE Systems Regional Aircraft BAe 146-200 for conversion to an airtanker/water-bomber. Minden first tested the BAe 146 for this role in 2004, using an instrumented and ballasted airframe. The company has developed its own design, and the conversion is planned for this year. Supplemental type certification is expected in time for the 2010 fire season.
Renewed enthusiasm in France for pursuing European civil and military space ambitions is expected to trigger a sharp rise in spending at French space agency CNES, after years of flat growth.
Just imagine a company operating as a monopoly provider of goods that would not be allowed by a powerful “authority” to order additional machine tools needed to match the market’s growing demand. Its customers would be more than upset; consumer groups would cry foul and call the media to denounce the misstep.
Marshall Aerospace has completed the second flight test of the C-130 flying testbed for the Airbus Military A400M airlifter’s TP400 turboprop. The C-130 was airborne for 2 hr. and 20 min., according to A400M officials. During climb, flight test personnel reached maximum power on the engine. The propeller also was feathered to ensure safety margins for inflight restarting. Upgrades are still being made to the flight test instrumentation to speed up the flight trials. The next testbed flight is expected this week.
Alliant Techsystems has secured a $200-million contract from Rolls-Royce to provide composite aft fan cases for the TrentXWB, the engine to power the new Airbus A350XWB twin-widebody. The contract supports a long-term ATK push to expand its aerostructures composites business. ATK will do more than just supply the part; it will also integrate components to provide a finished aft case to Rolls. The first delivery is due this year, for TrentXWB ground trials in 2010 and first flight on the A350 in 2012.
The European Commission has agreed to provide a further €205 million for Segment 2 of the European Monitoring for Environment and Security system. The move follows an earlier €205-million outlay approved by the EC in March 2008 and an €831-million injection by the European Space Agency last November (AW&ST Mar. 10, 2008, p. 15). The funds will permit construction of initial replenishment satellites for the first three Sentinel spacecraft, development of a fourth sensor and construction of a precursor unit for a fifth.
The Royal Air Force has carried out its first operational engagements using the Raytheon Paveway IV dual-mode precision-guided bomb. The weapon was deployed to Afghanistan in December for use on the Harrier GR9. Paveway IV integration work is also underway on the Tornado GR4 in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan to replace the Harrier detachment before June 30.
Engineers at Goddard Space Flight Center will subject a spare avionics box for the Hubble Space Telescope to vibration-testing this week as they work to meet a May 12 launch date for the space shuttle Atlantis on the final servicing mission to the orbiting observatory. Still to come is a 28-day thermal vacuum test of the spare Science Instrument Command & Data Handling (SIC&DH) unit, which should be finished early in March. That gives the Hubble program about a month of wiggle room to meet an Apr. 8 deadline to ship the unit to Kennedy Space Center.
Rolls-Royce and British Airways are being forced back to the drawing board on plans to trial sustainable alternative fuels. The companies invited bidders to propose fuels to be tested, but only one credible supplier emerged. Others were unable to produce enough alternative fuel for trials.
The spike in oil prices during the first half of 2008 cost airlines a lot of money. Unfortunately, some carriers doubled up on their losses by locking in new fuel hedges—just before prices collapsed during the second half of the year.
Obituary: Lawrence M. Nagin, an airline industry veteran with nearly 30 years’ experience with three carriers and a major airport operator, died Jan. 28 at home in New York. He was 67. Nagin started his aviation career in 1974 as principal legal adviser to the Los Angeles Airports Dept. He joined The Flying Tiger Line in 1980 as senior vice president of corporate affairs and general counsel.
If Pentagon officials believe a new report has satisfied the growing congressional appetite for redefining who does what in national security with its latest report on the issue, lawmakers are already saying otherwise. The Defense Dept. on Jan. 29 released its first Quadrennial Roles and Missions Review Report to Congress.
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, Malaysia’s coast guard, has taken delivery of the first of two Bombardier 415MP amphibious aircraft. Malaysia is the launch customer for the specialized airplane, which is a variant of the Bombardier 415—the only aircraft specifically designed for aerial firefighting, the company says. Malaysia’s 415MPs will be equipped with a surveillance suite that includes two side-looking airborne radars, one forward-looking infrared radar and an airborne maritime surveillance system.
The Obama administration favors a “worldwide ban on weapons that interfere with military and commercial satellites,” but not on research into protecting valuable space assets or developing defenses against ballistic missiles. Shortly after President Barack Obama took office, his new White House web site posted a defense policy “agenda” that promised to restore U.S.
NASA is likely to use economic stimulus package funds to accelerate the Orion/Ares I shuttle follow-on vehicles and Earth-observation missions already in the pipeline. But beyond that, the agency will probably have to wait for top-line Fiscal 2010 budget figures from the Obama White House late this month for clues on how to proceed. This week, the Senate is set to take up its version of the stimulus package that passed the House Jan. 28 with a little more than $600 million for NASA.
